Statement On the Departure of the Montreal Section of the Revolutionary Student Movement

We, the RSM Coordinating Committee, are disappointed to see the recent statement of the MER Montreal announcing their departure from the broader organization. While we are disappointed, we are not surprised: their statement follows the resignation of MER Montreal members from the Coordinating Committee, months of non-communication with the Coordinating Committee, and a lack of participation in the life of the broader RSM. Indeed, the MER went as far as to not attend the recent RSM Congress, despite initially volunteering to host it in Montreal. It was in this context that the Coordinating Committee sent a final appeal to the MER Montreal, which stipulated that their membership would be terminated if they did not resume communication with the Coordinating Committee. Instead of struggling with the rest of the RSM over political disagreements, the MER Montreal chose to announce their resignation.

There are many aspects of the statement made by the MER Montreal which we find objectionable. However, we want to highlight the political differences. Chiefly, these differences are: a rejection of the need for independent mass organizations, and misplaced criticisms of the Sixth Congress of the RSM, held in Ottawa in February.

MER Montreal disagrees with the importance of independent mass and intermediate organizations. They make their criticism by pointing to an article in the PCR-RCP’s theoretical journal Arsenal, and by suggesting that to allow for independent mass initiatives is to liquidate the importance of a Party or even more broadly, revolution. We clearly disagree with this criticism: we think that a robust revolutionary movement engages society on multiple levels, including on the mass and intermediate levels, with mass and intermediate organizations working alongside party-level organizations. We uphold the importance of independent mass and intermediate organizations with their own internal democratic structures: we think that a crucial aspect of the mass line is to trust the masses to run their own affairs. The RSM should maintain its organizational independence, rather than acting simply as an appendage directly under the organizational control of the PCR-RCP. We are sad to see the MER Montreal reject the mass line, and adopt as their practice a caricature of vanguard-style organizing which substitutes political leadership for bureaucratic leadership.

MER Montreal has levelled three main criticisms of the Sixth RSM Congress. Before engaging with these criticisms, we want to highlight that the MER did not attend the Congress, and so makes many of these criticisms from a position of relative ignorance. While we should have been more pro-active about posting the full text of the adopted motions on the RSM web site, MER Montreal would have found the answers to many of their questions in the “Reportback” which was posted shortly after the Congress ended. With that in mind, the MER Montreal criticizes: the apparently “pointless” focus on General Assemblies, renaming IWWD to “Gender Oppressed Workers Day”, and the size of the Congress.

We find it strange that the MER Montreal would take issue with the General Assembly campaign, considering that it was first suggested by a comrade from Montreal at the first RSM Congress in 2012. However, we think that the criticism of GAs being apparently “pointless” is a criticism made in bad faith. The RSM has always put forward the notion that GAs are not an end in-and-of themselves, but rather serve as a forum in which class struggle is possible. Thus, as a means of furthering class struggle on campuses, we have attempted to create GAs where they do not exist. In turn, the GAs are to build towards student strikes, which by raising the level of militancy and struggle across Canada, will help create a generation of militants and the conditions for revolution. Furthermore, in contexts where GAs already existed (such as in Quebec!), comrades were not required to engage in this type of practice. We have always been clear about this general strategic conception in the motions presented to RSM Congresses, as well as in our documents. Indeed, had the MER Montreal read the “Reportback” issued after the Sixth RSM Congress, they would have found this same conception repeated there. While the MER Montreal may disagree with this strategic orientation (though we should note, never openly within the RSM), it is dishonest to say that the point of the GA campaigns is unclear.

MER Montreal criticized the RSM for calling for a “Gender Oppressed Workers’ Day” on March 8th, rather than the traditional “International Working Women’s Day.” We disagree that this constitutes an abandonment of 100 years of struggle of working-class women for their emancipation. We do not feel as though the inclusion of trans women and non-binary proletarians undermines the struggle for gender equality, nor does it undermine the struggle for revolution. While we note that there was considerable debate on this motion at the Congress, we also note that by not attending, MER Montreal neglected to struggle with their comrades on an issue which was clearly controversial and important.

Finally, the MER Montreal attempts to justify their aloofness by pointing to the supposed decline in size of the broader RSM. While it is true that there were fewer attendees at the RSM Congress this year than in the past, that has nothing to do with the size of the broader RSM. Indeed, and MER Montreal was aware of this, it was because the RSM is now too large and wide-spread for it to be feasible to bring everyone together for every Congress. As such, we have for the last two Congresses, used a delegation system rather than having everyone attend. In fact, had MER Montreal attended the RSM Congress, they would have discovered that the RSM is larger than ever, even when members of MER Montreal are not included in the total.

The Coordinating Committee is disappointed that MER Montreal has announced their departure from the broader RSM. However, for all of the criticisms that MER Montreal makes, we want to note that not once were any of these criticisms brought up internal to the RSM, nor at RSM Congresses, to be discussed in an open and democratic manner. MER Montreal has abandoned their responsibility to struggle with their comrades. Where the broader RSM upholds the importance of political struggle, MER Montreal backs away from it. With this in mind, the Coordinating Committee sees the departure of MER Montreal as only a temporary setback for the RSM in a single city. We will resume activity in Montreal shortly, and will continue to contribute to the broader revolutionary movement across Canada and Quebec.

If anyone in Montreal is interested in helping to rebuild the RSM, we welcome you to get in touch with us.